There was a time early last basketball season when Rachel Roberts thought her playing days at San Marcos High were over. A shoulder injury as a sophomore and a sprained ankle to open her junior year made what started out as a promising career seem like it was heading nowhere fast. As the 6-foot...

James Malveaux looks like he’d be comfortable lining up at left tackle. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound senior from Hoover High doesn’t play football, but he’s not bad on the basketball court as his rebound basket with six seconds to play clinched a hard-fought 71-68 victory over visiting Sweetwater in...

Last year’s senior-laden Lincoln team reached the Division I boys basketball championship game, losing to Santa Fe Christian. It was an entirely different story this season. A young Lincoln squad, seeded 14th in Division I, played on the road and ran into a hot-shooting, senior-loaded buzz saw...

Steele Canyon goalkeeper Alyssa Warner made two huge saves to keep the Cougars’ season alive. The senior stopped a penalty kick in sudden-death overtime, then saved another during the ensuing penalty kick shootout. Her heroics allowed the Cougars to advance 4-3 in PKs after the teams played to...

How has the El Camino girls water polo team responded to the graduation of Quinne Pursell, the San Diego Section’s career scoring leader? Well enough to reach the Division I final this season. Led by sophomore Mia Barr with three goals, the fifth-seeded Wildcats ousted No. 1 West Hills 7-5 in the...

The Eastlake High boys soccer team has put its confidence this season in forward Samay Rahim, a lethal goal scorer with ambitions extending far beyond the pitch. A second-team All-San Diego Section pick last year, Rahim has exploded for 19 goals and eight assists as the Titans (14-4-4) ended the...

More High School

The outcome of a January nonleague game, December tournaments, even a November contest may come back and bite a team on the rear end in February. Looking for a good January nonleague game in the school’s new gym, St. Augustine boys basketball coach Mike Haupt scheduled La Jolla Country Day — and...

In a week when Valentine’s Day is celebrated, it’s only fair to note that Mira Mesa’s Jennell Hooftallen is in love — with the 3-point field goal. It’s nothing new, she’s been that way since the second grade. So it really came as no surprise to anyone who knows her when she broke the year-old San...

Point Loma senior Tanner Monette got hyped up before the San Diego Section Division III girls water polo semifinals — and then got excited again afterward. In between, the Pointers goalie appeared steady and calm. She went the first three quarters without allowing a goal and finished with 16 saves...

After trailing Olympian High throughout the day, the San Marcos wresting team turned to the big boys when it mattered most. Scoring final-round victories in four of the five heaviest weight classes, the Knights secured the San Diego Section Division I championship Saturday night at Canyon Crest...

For the final time with Wayne Branstetter as its coach, Poway High dominated the San Diego Section Division II wrestling championships. The host Titans put all 14 wrestlers into the finals en route to claiming yet another championship, the 32nd consecutive year to accomplish that feat, by racing...

The last time Brawley High failed to capture a San Diego Section wrestling crown, none of the current Wildcats grapplers were born. With Saturday night’s Division III championship at Montgomery High, Brawley claimed its 18th consecutive section title as a half dozen Wildcats claimed first-place...

Valley Center’s Thomas Lavigne didn’t do much Saturday afternoon — other than winning his second straight San Diego Section individual wrestling title. The Jaguars sophomore, the top-ranked 106-pounder in the region, needed just two matches and three minutes and 40 seconds of mat time, to lead...

The search for a new football coach at El Camino High took nearly two months, used modern technology, crossed state lines and included dozens of candidates. In the end, it was decided the best man for the job was Michael Hobbs, who held the title of interim head coach last season. “We had great...

Had Taeshon Cherry and Kimo Ferrari stayed where they started the school year, St. Augustine High would be the prohibitive favorite to win the San Diego Section Open Division boys basketball championship. Had Matt Bender and Max Guinn stayed at La Jolla Country Day, the Torreys might have challenged...

The field for the sixth annual Honor Bowl is set with the football showcase now a one-day affair in San Diego. Host Cathedral Catholic High will play the feature game at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1 against Gardena Serra. The 4 p.m. game features Helix vs. Scottsdale Saguaro, the Arizona 4A champion. The...

Although there had been rumors for years that Horizon Christian might close, when the word came down last June, athletic director Vickie Carrington was shocked. “I was in disbelief,” said Carrington, who had been at the school for 17 years. “I thought maybe we’d have to move, rent a building and...

If J.B. Feaster hadn’t been coaching boys water polo at Carlsbad High in the fall, he would have spent time fishing and watching the leaves turn in the Sierra Nevada. But coaching one of the elite programs in the San Diego Section kept him too busy to even think about packing his fishing pole and...

Julio Ruiz played on the first Valley Center High boys soccer team to qualify for the San Diego Section playoffs in 2003. It would take nine years for the Jaguars to return with help again from Ruiz. By then, the 2004 graduate was well into an 11-year stint developing players as the JV coach. That...

For a time, Maile Thompson thought about playing field hockey. At 5 feet, 3 inches, the San Pasqual High senior is the perfect height for the sport. “I know, I’m built closer to the ground,” Thompson said, laughing a little. “Before I got to high school, I was even shorter, about 5-foot. “I couldn’t...

Trevor Keifer, tournament director for the San Diego Section girls wrestling championships, talks about the recent growth in the sport. State championships in girls wrestling will be Feb. 23-24 in Visalia. ***** Listen to the ‘U-T Prep Report’ ***** Joining Keifer are Steve Brand of the Hall of...

B.J. Foster knows he has something special. “We have a terrific university, a great new facility and we’re in a great location,” the Cal State San Marcos men’s basketball coach said. “And we play at a high level. “Like any program, we recruit the best players, but we really want San Diego kids...